Live Chat Software: AI Market Discovery Index

Benchmark Summary

Tidio led the Live Chat Software benchmark in September 2026 with valid recommendation coverage of 68.9%, ahead of tawk.to at 61.3%, a gap of 7.6 points. Across the three-month series, LiveChat (Text S.A. (formerly LiveChat Software S.A.) posted the largest coverage movement, rising from 11.2% in July 2026 to 23.3% in September 2026, an increase beyond normal variation for the baseline-to-current period. No brand posted a series-level decline beyond normal variation.

Within the month, LiveChat's coverage moved from 40.2% in August 2026 to 23.3% in September 2026, a decline of 16.9 percentage points that was itself beyond normal month-to-month variation, even as the brand's baseline-to-current trend remains a significant increase. The benchmark produced 408 qualified observations in September 2026, up from 349 in July 2026, after qualification.

Current Benchmark at a Glance

The August 2026 series point of 371 qualified observations sits between the baseline and current months. Qualified surface breadth counts the canonical AI surface families with at least one qualified observation among ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews, and AI Mode. The benchmark maintained breadth across all six families in each month.

For the strategic interpretation of this benchmark, read CiteWorks Studio's analysis of How AI Search Is Recommending Live Chat Software

Research Scope and Qualification

The public benchmark is narrower than the raw collection universe by design. Brand-level percentages use the qualified observations as the public denominator, not the raw collection.

Each brand-level percentage in the standings below is calculated against these qualified observations, not against the raw collection total.

AI Market Discovery Methodology

Current Brand Standings

How to Read the Standings

Presence rate is the share of qualified observations where a brand is mentioned at all, regardless of whether it is recommended. Valid recommendation coverage is the share of qualified observations where a brand appears in a valid recommendation shortlist. Top-three rate is the share where a brand appears among the top three recommended options. Rank-one rate is the share where a brand is the first recommendation. Net sentiment measures the balance of positive versus negative mentions among all mentions of a brand, and reflects the tone of benchmark answers rather than customer satisfaction or reviews.

For formulas and denominator rules, see AI Market Discovery Metric Definitions.

Recommendation Coverage Movement

LiveChat (Text S.A. (formerly LiveChat Software S.A.) moved from 40.2% valid recommendation coverage in August 2026 to 23.3% in September 2026, a decline of 16.9 percentage points beyond normal month-to-month variation. Crisp's top-three rate rose from 9.5% in July 2026 to 14.7% in September 2026, and HubSpot Live Chat's top-three rate rose from 9.5% to 15.2% over the same period. Intercom's top-three rate rose from 22.1% to 32.4% and its rank-one rate rose from 6.3% to 11.8% across the same three months.

Largest Increase: LiveChat (Text S.A. (formerly LiveChat Software S.A.)

LiveChat (Text S.A. (formerly LiveChat Software S.A.) rose from 11.2% valid recommendation coverage in July 2026 to 23.3% in September 2026. The brand's presence rate rose from 18.1% to 34.3%, its top-three rate climbed from 7.7% to 20.3%, and its rank-one rate moved from 4.3% to 12.5% over the period. The brand remains classified as a significant riser across the three-month series even after the single-month decline from August to September 2026.

Category Leader: Tidio

Tidio held the category lead with valid recommendation coverage of 68.9% in September 2026, up from 67.9% in July 2026. The brand's presence rate rose from 79.7% to 84.8% across the series.

Stable Brands

Most tracked brands remained within normal month-to-month variation in September 2026. Crisp, Drift, HubSpot Live Chat, Intercom, LivePerson, Olark, tawk.to, Tidio, and Zendesk Chat all stayed within their expected ranges, with HubSpot Live Chat, Olark, and Zendesk Chat each posting two straight months of decline without moving beyond normal variation.

Recommendation Placement Snapshot

Coverage alone does not show how prominently a brand is recommended. Top-three and rank-one rates reveal placement quality within the shortlists where a brand appears, and the two leaders show different profiles.

Although Tidio holds the coverage lead, tawk.to achieves roughly twice the rank-one rate, with 21.6% in September 2026 versus Tidio's 10.8%. Close coverage can still hide different first-position rates.

Buyer-Intent Distribution

All qualified observations in both months fell into the Brand Recommendation class, where the prompt asks for a brand or product recommendation.

The current public series measures Brand Recommendation discovery and does not yet contain qualified observations in the Pricing & Value or Multi-Brand Comparison classes.

Historical Measurement Record

New measurements are added to the same report.

Evidence and Source Layer

The benchmark is built from prompt-level observations that retain the query, AI/search surface, answer, brand outcome, recommendation placement, sentiment, and where exposed, citations or attributable evidence sources. Source presence is evidence about the information environment. It is not automatically proof that the source caused the recommendation.

Scope Boundaries

This public benchmark does not measure market share, attributable sales, every possible AI response, organic-search ranking, social mention volume, private or sponsored channels, or causality from a metric movement alone. The benchmark records the change. It does not, by itself, establish why the change occurred.

About This Benchmark

The LLM Authority Index AI Market Discovery Index tracks how often and how prominently brands appear in AI-generated recommendations across six canonical AI surface families. It is a neutral industry benchmark built from prompt-level observations.

• AI Market Discovery Methodology
• AI Market Discovery Metric Definitions
• AI Market Discovery Research Standards
• Modeled AI Authority Value

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